Rebecca Green Thomason – Attorney at Law
I have a client who had trouble crossing the border into Canada. The Canadians have rules to keep criminals out of their country. My client has never been convicted of any crime. However, he had been arrested fifteen years ago. The charges were dropped. He is not guilty but the arrest is on his record forever. Alabama courts record thousands of arrests each year that never resulted in a conviction.
There are currently forty-five states which allow expungement of criminal records. These records may be sealed, expunged, or a person can receive a pardon. These terms are often used interchangeably but they have different meanings.
Alabama does not have an expungement law. If you are ever arrested in Alabama, a record can be found. It is more difficult to find violations and misdemeanors made in municipal courts. However, if the arrest is made by a county deputy or a highway patrolman it is written in stone.
In Alabama a person may receive a pardon. This means that they will be allowed to vote and have their gun rights restored. The arrest and conviction will still be on their record for anyone to view. A pardon does not erase the event. It is a type of forgiveness for wrongdoing.
Many people believe that a juvenile record will be erased. They are not erased but they may be sealed. These records are not available to the general public but they are available. They never go away. If you have a juvenile record and are convicted of a felony as an adult your juvenile record can be used to increase your punishment. A person can be denied probation because of their juvenile record. Law enforcement and judges have access to the juvenile records.
If records are expunged, it is as if the arrest or conviction never happened. In the eyes of the law, the entire incident never happened. In most respects, an expungement restores you to the status you had before being arrested or charged. Expunging means that the records are completely and physically destroyed.
There are people who are denied jobs because of an old arrest. Sometimes this happens even if the person was found not guilty or the case was dismissed. On a lot of job applications the question asked is whether you’ve been arrested for a crime and not whether you’ve been convicted of a crime. It is simple to find anyone’s arrest record by using the state system.
Alabama Background Check System is the official State of Alabama criminal history records check site. This system allows employers to subscribe and run online searches of Alabama criminal records. Current employees and prospective employees simply sign a paper authorizing the employer to search the records. You can find out more at http://background.alabama.gov or through the Online Services page of Alabama’s official government website,www.alabama.gov.
Get arrested and the mug shot that is on the law and order page of The Quad-Cities Daily will still be a part of your official record fifty years from now.
Rebecca Green Thomason
Attorney At Law
Publisher’s note: It is the policy of The Quad-Cities Daily to remove from our system the arrest records of persons who have been adjudicated “Not Guilty” or whose cases have been dismissed. Furthermore, we do not list the non-violent misdemeanor arrest records of minors. We are not perfect, and if a reader finds us in violation of our own policies, we would appreciate being given the details of our error so that we can make corrections. If you believe that you have been listed in The Quad-Cities Daily in error, or if you were adjudicated “Not-Guilty”, please contact us. Those who have been adjudicated “Not Guilty” or have had their case dismissed by the court, in order for us to expunge the case from out system, we will need a VERIFIABLE COPY of the official court record showing the favorable resolution of the case.
